Saturday, April 13, 2019

Roosevelt Island residents are furious today over the long lines and delays at the Tram, Subway, Ferry and bridge caused by the overwhelming number of visitors going to the Cherry Blossom Festival today at the southern section of the Island - FDR Four Freedoms Park

@MTA Roosevelt Island is just a mess beyond belief an event that's on the island brought masses of ppl only for all even ppl with strollers to walk up 2 long flights of steps and nypd controlling how the escalators should run causing just ppl to be angry #fixtheproblemmtapic.twitter.com/rKhyaYSwLE

The train station is an utter nightmare. People having a hard time entering/ exiting. One escalator out of service. People using the down escalator to walk up. Complete disaster. Next year Festival Organizers should appoint people to the station to help manage. pic.twitter.com/AJR9f0U3QY

No crowd control at the ferry! The mates had to yell at the crowd to move. The line went well back to the street

Turns out, not only is there a ferry to Roosevelt Island, a lot of people knew about it before me, and they all came to see the cherry blossoms, too. These folks are on line to be wanded before proceeding. pic.twitter.com/wMK396xSLh

Roosevelt Island activist Frank Farance warned of potential transportation problems earlier this week due to the Cherry Blossom Festival in emails to the event organizers, the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) and Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA) and as a comment to this post. According to Mr. Farance:

... The Manhattan side of the Tram might become congested. Even with 2 trams in operation, that's about 2000 people per hour (combined) and the Tram lines are certain to flow into the streets, sidewalks, and off-ramp traffic of the Queensboro Bridge? Is NYPD helping manage crowd control on the Manhattan side?

The Roosevelt Island subway station needs crowd control during arrival and departure to make sure the station itself does not become overcrowded. For example, the entrance to the station should be kept clear so people can leave the station, but that might be a problem if 10,000 people are on the north side of the checkpoints.

RIOC should ask for NYPD to assist, including their counter-terrorism staff: with such a high density of people in a confined space, this really requires much more help than what RIOC Public Safety Department can provide with a staff of approx 50-55 officers for a crowd of over 20,000....

The performances at the Rooseelt Island Cherry Blossom Festival were very good

but RIOC needs to examine whether the disruptions in transportation are a price worth paying for this event in the future.

We would like to thank; the performers, staff, RIOC, RIRA and all the vendors for helping to create a beautiful atmosphere and lovely event. We would also like to thank all participants that showed up to the event and hope that everyone had a fun day. #Cherryblossomfestival2020

The performance of the MTA and the communication within that entity was not the fault of festival staff, we are sorry that you experienced this at our free festival and hope you will attend our next festival where issues mentioned will hopefully be fixed.

Roosevelt island may not have the transportation to handle such large crowds for these types of events at all. Many residents hope these types of events will no longer take place here. https://t.co/x9CLRBWF9j

My four-year-old daughter brought her camera to make a story book about the festival. After walking over the bridge to Queens to get an Uber back to Manhattan, she announced that she's calling it "Our Family Escapes from Roosevelt Island."

“Security Checkpoints” on Roosevelt Island were a joke. A table set up on the road with a couple of “guards” using scanners for a large line of visitors. The guy who checked backpacks barely looked inside them. Pointless if security was the goal. They were overwhelmed.

The event is free so that anyone in NYC can enjoy our festival and that due to it being free it is normal of other events to consist of long lines and waits. As stated we are sorry for this inconvenience.

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Welcome to the Roosevelt Islander Online!

Roosevelt Island is a mixed income, racially diverse waterfront community situated in the East River of New York City between Manhattan and Queens and is jurisdictionally part of Manhattan. The Roosevelt Island Tramway, which connects Roosevelt Island to the rest of Manhattan, has become the iconic symbol of Roosevelt Island to its residents.

The Purpose of this Blog is to provide accurate and timely information about Roosevelt Island as well as a forum for residents to express opinions and engage in a dialogue to improve our community.